SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part II)

SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part II)

Although we tend to showcase our best and brightest, within any family genealogy lay deep dark secrets seldom mentioned in public discourse.  Unquestionably, if we dig deep enough, all families have members who epitomize shame and disgrace.  Such is the case with the family of the greatest man in human history, JESUS CHRIST.  Did you know that Jesus was rooted in a rather unsavory family tree?  The fact that Jesus achieved a righteous and victorious life (despite his family history) is indisputable evidence that it does not matter where we have come from…it only matters where we are headed!

Jesus certainly had ‘good guys’ in his family tree (like Josiah, Hezekiah and Ruth), but there were numerous villainous relatives who sowed seeds of sin and sorrow in the family DNA.  In our previous devotional, we referenced specific untoward issues that were part of the legacy of Abraham, his trickster grandson, Jacob, his disobedient great-grandson, Judah, and his combative great-great-grandson, Perez.  We also discovered that Rahab, the great-great-[many-times-great]-grandmother of Jesus, was both a prostitute and traitor to her own people.  We concluded that Jesus Christ came through a mess! 

Not quite convinced yet?  Rahab’s great-great-great-grandson is a man known well to us.  One day, while Israel was at war with Syria and the Israelite army was away on the battlefield, that man (King David) was taking an evening stroll in the roof-top palace garden.  Then and there, he developed a serious case of ‘eye trouble.’  From his elevated vantage point, David gazed upon the beautiful Bathsheba, who was (no pun intended) taking a private bath at the time.  Seized by unrighteous passion, the king sent for Bathsheba and consummated a romantic affair.  Ultimately, Bathsheba’s husband (Uriah) was sent to the front of the battle where he would be killed.  All of this was done to hide Bathsheba’s unlawful pregnancy and to allow the secret lovers to be legally wed.  So…King David was not only a psalmist, he was an adulterer, a murder (and incidentally) a noted ancestor of Jesus Christ.  Oh what skeletons in Jesus’ family closet…he came through a mess!

As instrumental as David’s son (Solomon) was in building a magnificent temple, and as wise as he was in leading and resolving the disputes of God’s people, he still got tied up with the Queen of Sheba and tangled up with approximately 700 wives (believe it or not) and 300 girlfriends.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

Another one of David’s sons (Absalom) got killed in an attempt to displace Daddy David on the throne.  His intent was to take the life of his own father.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

Solomon’s son (King Rehoboam) was so greedy, mean-spirited and oppressive of his people that civil war broke out and the nation was split into two parts.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

However, the most notorious of wicked kings was Solomon’s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson (Ahaz).  He rebuilt the pagan altars and actively encouraged idol worship.  Israelite children were sacrificed to idol gods, and King Ahaz even went so far as to replace the temple altar Solomon had built with a pagan altar he had found in Assyria.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

We could go on and on with heinous examples of sin in Jesus’ family – actions that were deliberately enacted against God and His people.  But our purpose for focusing in on the skeletons in Jesus’ family tree is not (by any means) to dishonor our Savior.  It is solely intended to liberate us from the spirit of accusation that Satan continuously unleashes against God’s people (both in our minds and from others’ lips).  These accusations are designed to make us feel unworthy of the gift of God’s grace and undeserving to be used in God’s Kingdom. 

You might have emerged from less than ideal conditions.  Your family lineage might have experienced more than its share of poverty, or pain, or failure, or disgrace.  But before He called you to the Kingdom, ALMIGHTY GOD had already seen, contemplated and factored in all of the ‘mess’ in your personal life or in your family tree.  The truth is that God plans to use what others perceive as disgrace – by transforming it into grace.  He seeks to make you a living testimony of the love, power and glory of God.  You might have come through a mess…but you have now come to the cross…so you will no longer be dominated by your past.  In the words of Jesus Christ, “Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” (John 15:3)  I love the Apostle Paul’s admonition to Timothy:

II Timothy 2:20-22

²⁰ But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

²¹ If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

Amen, brothers and sisters!  AMEN!  AMEN!

SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part I)

SKELETONS IN THE FAMILY CLOSET (Part I)

During six decades of life, I have discovered that all too often we judge one another, not by the “content of our character” (as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. suggested), but by the pedigree of our family tree.  To wit, most of the ‘Who’s Who’ publications produced by our society are focused on familial bloodlines and material acquisitions, and their resultant power and prestige.   In America, the very bluest of the ‘blood-bloods’ proudly trace their ancestry to passengers on The Mayflower, the ship that arrived in 1620 at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.  Ironically, those present on that ship were not necessarily the crème de la crème of European society, but many of its religious and social castaways.  Such is life. 

Most families boast on their best and brightest.  But when we delve beneath the surface of any family lineage, we are apt to discover deep dark secrets that only a few dare to mention in public discourse.  It does not matter whether our surnames are Rockefeller or Rothschild, DuPont or Vanderbilt, Mellon or Carnegie, Douglas or Tubman, Garvey or King, McClendon or Bass, there are people in our family tree who foster embarrassment.  These are real life situations we would love to forget.

Such is the case with the family of the greatest human being who ever walked the face of this earth.  Did you know that JESUS CHRIST was the product of a demonstrably disgraceful and unsavory family tree?  When we preach about him, we typically refer to the great patriarchs and august kings in his bloodline: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon. But consider this.  After Jesus called Philip to be one of twelve disciples, Philip ran immediately to Nathaniel and testified: “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  Nathaniel’s response was fascinating: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:43-46, NKJV)  It was a cynical question, but an insightful one as well, for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, eventually entered the earth realm by way of a veritable family mess!

I will elaborate later in much greater detail, but the mere fact that Jesus achieved a completely righteous and victorious life in spite of whatever came before is indisputable evidence that it does not matter where you and I have come from…it only matters where we are headed!

Let’s take a look at Jesus’ family tree, shall we?  He was the Son of God, but he was also the son of man.  Admittedly, in the interest of full disclosure, Jesus did have some ‘good guys’ in his family tree: righteous people like Hezekiah, Boaz, Ruth, and others.   NEVERTHELESS…suffice it say that there were numerous individuals who caused Jesus to have ‘issues’ in his family DNA.  In fact, if Jesus were running for president of the United States in our time, the international press would have a field day!  Paparazzi would stalk him; reporters would push microphones in his face; all would interrogate him about his family background.  Jesus Christ came through a mess! 

Even Abraham, the beloved father of the faith, who lived 42 generations before in Jesus’ family, had some serious issues.  Although he initially demonstrated unreserved faith in God, he later doubted God’s promise of a son and heir, causing him to go into Hagar (his wife Sarah’s handmaiden) to father a child.  Arguably, this poor decision resulted in ongoing political conflict between the offspring of Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael, divisive ripples that continue to this very day.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, was so partial that his favoritism toward Joseph (along with his son’s dreams) caused eleven brothers to abandon him to be sold into Egyptian slavery.  And even though God providentially blessed this family through Joseph, who rose to the position of prime minister in Egypt, if the truth be told, it was his father Jacob’s partiality and poor judgment that caused the Israelites to eventually become slaves in Egypt for over 400 years.  Jesus Christ came through a mess!

Jacob’s son Judah, an ancestor of Jesus, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, disobeyed God and married a Canaanite woman outside of the Jewish faith.  Eventually, Judah ended up in hot water because Tamar, his daughter-in-law, dressed up like a prostitute and had a sexual encounter with him.  The end result was twin sons, who had such bad blood against each other that they ended up fighting inside of the womb.  The Bible recounts that Perez, the twin son who was the ancestor of Jesus, wrestled with his brother inside the womb. As a result of that conflict, Perez was born first and received the inheritance.  Jesus came through a mess!

Perez had a great-great-great-great granddaughter named Rahab, who was a female prostitute and a citizen of Jericho.  She turned against her own people when the Israelites showed up to fight against Jericho.  But Rahab found grace in the eyes of the Lord for helping God’s chosen ones and thus became a distant ancestor of Jesus.  I repeat: Jesus came through a mess!  It is my hope that these tawdry details enable you to discern the fact that there is extraordinary hope for YOU since JESUS’ family was loaded down with extreme and negative conditions – yet he prevailed and became victorious over sin and shame.  Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow!